/ 2 May 2008

Preparing for a run-off

Sudden leaks of election results by the government shortly before the verification of the results were an attempt to prepare Zimbabweans for a run-off between the two leading presidential candidates, according to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Two reports on Wednesday quoted government and election commission sources saying that President Robert Mugabe had indeed lost the presidential election. But they say that the main rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, did not receive the 50% plus one vote needed to obtain outright victory.

The Mail & Guardian was also told by senior government officials that Mugabe received 43% of the votes while Tsvangirai secured 47%, leaving the remainder of the votes to the two independent candidates, former finance minister Simba Makoni and businessman Langton Towungana.

”The MDC has convinced its backers that Tsvangirai won an outright majority. This is why we have heard Britain and the US claiming victory on his behalf. But even the MDC knows nobody got 50%. They are simply inflating figures for their own ends. We know he got 47%, our candidate 43%. Even opposition-aligned groups such as ZESN [Zimbabwean Election Support Network] are in line with these figures,” a senior government source said.

According to him Makoni received 9,5% of the vote and Towungana 0,5%. The ZESN released projected figures based on a small sample collected from results posted outside voting stations shortly after the elections.

The figures were strongly denied by MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa: ”It is a deliberate distortion of the truth by Zanu-PF. The truth is that Morgan Tsvangirai won well above the 50% threshold. This 47% these sources within government are now touting is just an attempt by Zanu-PF to prepare people’s mindsets for a run-off. This is an artificial result.” Tsvangirai and the MDC’s secretary general, Tendai Biti, are both abroad.

The Zimbabwean Election Commission (ZEC) told the M&G it has ”no knowledge” of any results announced by government to the media.

Previously the ZEC and the Zimbabwean police accused the MDC of breaching the electoral legislation by announcing the presidential results shortly after the election.

Zimbabwean police chief Augustine Chihuri wrote a letter to Biti to that effect. ”You know for sure your violation of the country’s laws by declaring presidential results, which was, indeed, in contravention of section 110 of the Electoral Act, chapter 2:13, and is still to be attended to by the police.

”Surely, the police have been looking for you so that you could assist in investigations surrounding the above-mentioned issue concerning the electoral laws and other matters, but you were nowhere to be found.

”The only time one sees you is on the international media, making all sorts of unsubstantiated allegations against everybody else and the country, gallivanting all over the world. This might be the reason why you are out of touch with the real issues affecting the people on the ground,” wrote Chihuri in a letter obtained by the Zimbabwean state-owned Herald newspaper.

A verification meeting was sche-duled to be held on May 1 so that the ZEC could compare its results with the tallies collected by Zanu-PF and the MDC on election day.

Election experts say it is highly unusual for an election commission to have such a meeting because it undermines the independence of the commission. The ZEC insists that the electoral act makes provision for such a meeting to take place.

The MDC has repeatedly questioned the independence of the ZEC from government influence, although this has been denied by both government and the electoral commision.

Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa said the MDC nominated three of the seven commissioners in terms of an agreement brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki.

”The MDC cannot claim [the] ZEC is not independent. They have three of their own people in there. We know the names, but we can’t tell you who they are,” said Chinamasa.

The ZEC chairperson is appointed after consultation with the Judicial Services Commission and the other six are appointed from a list of nominees submitted by the Zanu-PF-dominated parliamentary committee on standing rules and orders.